That was our first Christmas in the new house.

We invited Alice and Ken, who brought Caroline along and thank God for that, is all I will say! 🙂

Food wise it was a bit challenging- lots of cooking for 6 people most days, no Mariusz, no Bozenka, no sous chefs, solo io. One fussy vegetarian.

I decided not to make tons of food, like my mum always has for Christmas, I did a few classics, but opted out of trying too hard. Vino sfuso was drunk, also one good bottle of Chianti we have brought from Greve. I would have loved some sledzik, I missed my mum’s cooking, next year we will try hard and get them over here.

For Christmas Eve I’ve served some excellent barszcz (Caz loved it) with paszteciki, recipe of Robert Maklowicz. I felt zero urge to slave and make uszka, not for this crowd. Paszteciki were excellent and I’m keeping the recipe; 200 g of plain flour, 120 g of soft butter, a tbsp of sour cream, quite a serious sprinkling of salt and 2 egg yolks. All this kitchen aided and chilled in the fridge for an hour. The filling for them were porcini and cup mushrooms. Important to seal the edges with some egg white before sticking together. Baked for 20-25 mins in 180 degrees. Lovely and crumbly.

I also made “ryba po grecku”, which was enjoyed by every fish eater at the table. Some golabki with rice and mushroom filling, clementine cake with creme fraiche to finish.

Christmas Day was again all mine to prepare, the main event were turkey wraps with mushroom filling served in a creamy, luscious marsala sauce, roasted veggies, baked red cabbage, pigs in blankets. Orange creme brulee and cantucci for dessert. Grappa bottle was unexpectedly finished.

On Boxing Day we went to Trattoria Nonna Clara, lots of lasagne was eaten, I however had some wonderful chestnut pasta with duck ragu, oh yeah! A real treat!

Izzie and Caz became best of friends this Christmas, here seen enjoying some focaccia in Lucca.

Also worth mentioning are those fabulous oranges we get in Esselunga, the juice from them is pure perfection. Gino enjoyed the box. 🙂

12 months to go, but I think we will aim for The Stronie Team to be here next winter.